(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be making a brief comment. I agree with all the comments that have been put out by the Members and I am very proud to be a Canadian as well. I just want to indicate that being an aboriginal person and being a founding person of this country, I am very proud of it. When the first non-aboriginal people came to our country, we did not even have a geography at the time or any mappings, and yet there were some aboriginal people who were living in Keewatin, Kitikmeot and Dene regions. Manitoba, Yukon or Quebec or even the provinces at the time were not even listed in our maps of Canada. However, aboriginal people were still in existence in our great country and they were scattered all over this country. They were supporting themselves and hunting for themselves, for their people. They had their own customs and laws which governed them.
Even though they were scattered and had their own systems, they did not have such party politics. However, they would communicate with each other and come up with solutions to their problems. However, just recently when we started talking about Nunavut territory, our elders finally understood that our country and that our land was our land, that we could govern the land as we wanted and as we wished. So, the people who were negotiating the land claims at the time had a very hectic job to do. However, we will be beginning our government within Nunavut and having said all that, although we have political parties within Canada and have provinces, we can still live together as a whole, as a people because we are all from Canada and we are proud to be Canadians. Those of us who are Inuit being in Canada, we always see on TV other countries fighting amongst themselves and we even see little children carrying guns so that they can shoot other people. But we do not see that within Canada. We do not let our children carry guns around so that they can shoot other people down. Because we are living in Canada, we can speak about anything that we want to speak. Thank you. (Translation ends)
Different types of people come from different parts of Canada and regions. My husband is from Ontario. My son, Trevor, is from Baffin. My son Randy is from Keewatin. I have a sister-in-law from northern Quebec, Pasha. I have a sister-in-law Marilyn from New Brunswick. I have a sister-in-law Trudy from Manitoba. I have a brother-in-law from southern Quebec. I also have a friend here who speaks Chinese.
--Laughter/Applause
My Mom's father, Jimmy Tom, was from Scotland. I strongly feel that family unity is very important and so is National Unity. The NWT Resolution and the Calgary Declaration recognize what makes Canada unique, and this is our respect for diversity, the value of our social programs, our different languages, the equality of our people, and of our provinces and territories and the right of our people to govern themselves. Mr. Speaker, I am supporting the NWT Resolution and would like to thank all the Members of this special committee for their efforts in the national unity process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
--Applause